Ok I know I haven't updated for ages. But hey I only blog about controversial topics. And today's new paper caught my eye, albeit a bit too late, because I guess this topic has already been floating around for a couple of days, if not weeks.

Anyway, its about this primary school teacher who posed in a bikini and put it online. It sparked a huge furore, with people jumping up to claim that they did not want their children to be exposed to such indecency and stuff, and M.O.E. standing up to clarify that it was not encouraged and teachers should be a good example to students blah blah yada yada..

Not again. Protective parents, protective society. Anyway, if my son came home and told me he got a teacher like her, I would tell him I would have loved to date her. But thats besides the point. If people comment that they should "be a role model" and "impart sound ethics and moral values". So, I beg to question, which aspect of wearing a bikini is unethical and immoral?And can't our role models wear bikinis? Or have tattoos, for that matter. A bikini is a form of swimwear, beachwear. She does not wear the bikini to school, for heaven's sake. Why the uproar when she took photos of herself wearing a bikini to swim and at a beach resort? Is there anything wrong with wearing a bikini to a beach resort?

Is it the problem of her attire, or does the problem lie with the mindset of the general public?

Bikini insinuates loose morals and behaviour. Is this your personal viewpoint or a factual statement? It's people who stereotype bikini-wearers as loose and wild. And that stereotype cannot be healthy for a society as a whole, because people will start to slap labels on different groups of people. Your actions, your speech, all the way down to even your dressing, are being finger-pointed by people. How oppressing can it get?

Since young, I've been taught that people who smoke and have tattoos are bad people. Do not hang around with them. If there was a magnificent piece of drawing hanging on the wall, people would gasp in wonder and comment, what a work of art. If there was a magnificent drawing hanging off someone's back, people would comment, chao ah beng. Why? No doubt, tattoos did have its share of history in gangsterism. But is that enough to quantify everybody who have tattoos as gangsters? So, if gangsters took a liking to music and started playing guitars and pianos, will everybody who play guitars and pianos be classified as gangsters? Why is it that there's this social stigma against them, such that even for work applications, a superior needs to know if you have tattoos? Sometimes, I really wonder what kind of a society we are living in. I definitely do not want my kids to slap labels on people like I did some years back.

How about smoking? No doubt, its a bad habit. But don't we all have bad habits? Some of us like to dig our nose in public, some of us have a penchant for oily deep fried food. Is smoking something that is character-defining? I personally do not smoke but I know of many people who smoke for various reasons. It's a vice, no doubt, but it definitely does not mean that people who smoke are "baddies' who cannot make it in life. I've known of many people, scholars even, who have been successful in their own respective fields, and can't live without their tobacco. Talking about health concerns, there are many other sinful indulgences which are detrimental to our health as well. But we do not point our fingers at a teacher who chomps on a deep fried succulent piece of chicken wing, and shake our head because he/she is not setting a good example to our children.

I do not know if we can one day rid ourselves of all these judging and label-slapping. I think what is more important is teaching our young ones to judge for themselves and not be swayed by other people's opinions. It is an independent mind, faith in his/her own opinions and strength of character that differentiates a leader from a follower. Just like how another teacher commented,
we want to create our leaders of tomorrow, and not mould cupcakes.